Would You Settle For £1?

[jake-the-peg]

If you were tortured would you settle for £1?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287711/Abdel-Hakim-Belhadj-Kidnapped-Libyan-politician-suing-Government-torture-claims-offers-settle-case-3-apology.html

Should they accept this offer?

[emmie]

hate to say this Gromit, but this is the way of the world, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. That is an appalling thing to learn but it's true nevertheless. He supposedly fought against Gadaffi, at a time when Gadaffi was a friend to the west, i use the term friend loosely..

[Gromit]

So, he was part of an Islamist group that tried to overthrow Gadaffi.

Isn't that what we ended up doing, supporting the Islamist Libyan Rebels?

[Gromit]

He was arrested and handed to Gadaffi in 2004. The US had broken off diplomatic ties a decade earlier and Gadaffi's Libya was publicly part of the Greater 'Axis of Evil'. The US did not restore relation until 2006.

So why did they (with our help) capture one of Gadaffi's enemies and hand him to the great dictator for torture?

[New Judge]

What are you doing reading the Daily Mail, Jake? You're not on the turn are you?

[sandyRoe]

I think I remember Jack Straw on Newsnight denying any knowledge of this. I'm sure he would have stopped the operation if he'd known.

[emmie]

sandy, really think that.?

[emmie]

Sandy from the BBC article

Now he is taking legal action against former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw over claims that Mr Straw signed papers authorising the move.

[Gromit]

Sandy

// There were signs that the discovery of a cache of secret MI6 and CIA documents at an abandoned government office building in Tripoli was triggering panic in some parts of Whitehall.

The papers detail the UK's role not only in the rendition of Belhaj, but in that of a second man, known as Abu Munthir. This operation appears to have been planned by British and Libyan intelligence officers. //

If Straw didn't know then he was not in control of his own Department.

I wonder what happened to the liberated paperwork in Tripoli, and who has it now?

[emmie]

can't see straw admitting anything...

[jake-the-peg]

I used the DM because it seems to be the AB organ of record

(I was also interested to see if they could turn it some way - seems to have defeated them)

Ludwig said:

// Or he does not want money and it is the principle he is fighting for.
Ha ha - good one. //

This is exactly why he's done this

He's aware that it's easy in a country that sues the moment someone trips on a paving stone to portray this as an attempt to get rich.

Love to hear Ludwig's explanation of why 'that's a good one'!


Point of the matter is that he's managed rather cleverly to up the ante

as said above 'they should pay up and save us all the legal costs'

That's exactly the pressure the government and Jack Straw will be coming under.

Only it comes with the admission that we were complicit in torture and will undermine our international credibility.


Add that to the current inquiry about whether British forces executed prisoners and our claim to the moral high ground is looking increasingly precarious!

[emmie]

i said that he had already been offered money, some time back, at least going on one article i was reading... 1m comes to mind.

[Gromit]

// In March, the BBC revealed the UK government had authorised the rendition of Mr Belhadj and his wife, though it was not clear at what level. And on 15 April the Sunday Times published an article quoting sources alleging the authorisation had come from Mr Straw.

UK ministers have denied any complicity in rendition or torture. Mr Straw says he cannot comment on the claims because of an ongoing police investigation into the UK's alleged role in rendition. //

Surely Mr Straw can say he is not guilty or innocent of the charge whether there is a police investigation or not. His failure to do so is telling.

[emmie]

is it telling, why, if there is an ongoing investigation, it doesn't make him automatically guilty, it means he can't say anything, at least for now. You do realise that if he was found to be wanting, that drags Blair into the frame, something that many would like to see happen i am sure....